Monday, February 14, 2011

A Mishmash: Fruit, Art, Snow, and Pizza Bones

Disclaimer: This post has no flow or style. I was pretty much just cleaning out the memory card on my camera and found some things I photographed and meant to share, but they aren't big or important enough to have as individual entries.

Mystery FruitWe saw this at the commissary. It appears to be a cross between a grapefruit and a honeydew melon, with perhaps a little bit of volleyball in its ancestry.Turns out it's just the biggest grapefruit we've ever seen. Fortunately, it was super easy to peel and pretty tasty. Kind of a hassle to eat, but totally worth trying.

Art Gallery OpeningOne of our Japanese friends is in a painting class; her professor had an art gallery opening in one of the Hilton neighborhoods. I say "Hilton neighborhoods" because inside the hotel was what appeared to be an underground city, complete with boutique and souvenir shops, and it took some navigating to find the art gallery. I don't actually know if it was part of the hotel or if the hotel was just on top of an actual underground city.

I sort of expected more of that social circle (a very international group) to be there, but I only knew two people and we were the only non-Japanese people. If I could have spoken Japanese, I could have charmed everyone in the room. As it was, people kept wanting to come over and meet us, ask us where we're from, and push plates of food and cups of beer and wine in our hands. So it was a little awkward, but not a bad experience. One person apparently thought I was an actress or otherwise somebody famous when we first arrived, which is flattering. A couple gentlemen could speak conversational English and had some interesting stories to tell.

Sigh. I can't wait to be good at Japanese.

One gentleman apparently makes guitars and may be well known in Japan, but I didn't catch his name. He plays classical guitar breathtakingly well.

On our way out of the building after the reception, we passed this:

Then, outside, one of those nighttime scenes that makes me realize all over again that I live in Tokyo. Tokyo!

Hey, Tokyo DOES Get Snow!Wet and slushy snow, but snow nonetheless. Enough for a footprint, even!Crooked did not approve. He refused to step on any snow and politely asked to go back inside almost immediately.

PizzakayaThere's a fabulous pizza joint in Roppongi called Pizzakaya. The website isn't the most polished design, but don't let that fool you into thinking their pizza isn't top notch. It's Grade-A stuff. Plus, if your group consists of four or more people you have the option to get the 2-hour all-you-can-eat pizza and salad option. Which we did. And it was awesome.

Taco pizza. I'm told it tastes exactly like eating a taco.

Half pepper and olive, half three different kinds of mushrooms.This is called Rahat, the menu describes it as,"spicy lean ground beef with Pakistani spices topped with tomatoes and mozzarella."The Great White: parmesan, mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, and olive oil.Half plain cheese, half almost every vegetable one can fit on pizza.I could have helped finish off those pizzas if they hadn't contained so much meat. Silly carnivores.I think the crust is darn tasty, but not everyone eats the pizza bones. (Thank you, Tammy, for that expression. It has now spread to the other side of the world and has already been used in conversation.)You've seen Mount Fuji. Now behold Mount Pizza Bones.

Random Photo from Somewhere Inside Shinjuku StationShinjuku station is enormous. We've been here for almost a year and every time we go to Tokyo we change trains at Shinjuku, but it's still not uncommon for me to discover a new hallway or shopping wing. This is just some neat wall art, I don't know the story behind it.